The only things I can think of are that the audio output device for VC is not set to "system default" in Windows, or that you changed some settings for the game in Nvidia control panel which causes strange effects. Leave everything there as default except you should enable ultra low latency mode.
It's a side effect of warping out of the mall. Since I never properly "left the mall" through a door, and the check to give you 5* for entering the mall without the cop outfit seems to check that, you instantly get the wanted level
